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Coffee shops are great places to explore your creativity and come up with new ideas. A little caffeine, some time to play, and the materials at hand can go a long way. With a bit of imagination you can use this construction method to build many other kinds of forms, and this basic component can be combined with other elements to create larger and more impressive pieces. The baristas don’t tend to mind, especially if you tip generously.

Parts

Tools

Steps

Step #1: Collect and cut.

After you’ve customized your caffeinated beverage of choice at the condiment bar, pick up a few extra items: 12 coffee stirrers and 3 straws. Cut the straws in half, creating 6 connector pieces (if you don’t have scissors, you can do this with 6 full-length straws as well).

TIP: Soak the stirring sticks in water if you have trouble getting them to bend.

Ian Gonsher is an artist, designer, and educator on the faculty in the School of Engineering at Brown University. His teaching and research focus on creative practices across disciplines and the development of pedagogical strategies for teaching creative thinking. iangonsher.com

http://twitter.com/JamesAbellArt James Abell (@JamesAbellArt)

This is simple but great, simple but great. I always take a few more stirrers to the table to make things, of course now the straws allow for connection!

http://www.jumpingoatcoffeeroasters.com JumpinGoat Coffee Roasters

We will have to make an example and leave on the counter for our patrons! This is a pretty cool little idea to further conversation over coffee!

https://plus.google.com/114646629372091680881 Edgar Perez

It took a little more effort than I expected, but it looks cool on my desktop

adstiles

Awesome. I showed the basic triangle element to my five-year-old and he built the whole model himself, very proudly. Do you know of other projects that use this shape or did you make it up yourself? i.e. at bigger/smaller scales. I’m planning to make larger sticks to recreate this big enough to climb inside of, so curious what other applications are out there. Thanks.